STATE HOUSE ROUNDUP -- Taking care of unfinished business

Monday

Some policies don't age well, and for many Democrats and Republicans on Beacon Hill, the state's Clinton-era restrictions on welfare benefits for children fall into that category.

The race to repeal the so-called "cap on kids" has officially begun, seven months after Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed a bill that would have eliminated the cap and lawmakers were powerless to do anything about it.

Settling unfinished business, in fact, seemed to be something of a mantra for the week.

In addition to the "cap on kids," legislative leaders returned their sights to banning gay conversion therapy, which came tantalizingly close to passage last July. Baker, meanwhile, went to the AAA offices in downtown Boston to remind everyone about his traffic safety bill from January, which included a handheld cellphone ban for drivers.

"Frankly, I thought we were going to get it done last year ... Like a number of things that seemed to have a fair amount of support it just didn't get through in the end," Baker said.

This time around, Baker has also proposed to repeal the cap, but in return he's seeking some changes to family welfare eligibility that leaders like Sen. Sal DiDomenico and Rep. Majorie Decker -- high school classmates and partners in the cap-on-kids fight –- have deemed nonstarters.

The "cap-on-kids" stipulates that any child born to a family already receiving welfare benefits is ineligible for additional support -- $100 a month. About 9,000 families fall under the cap, according to proponents.

Put in place in 1995 as Democrats at the state and federal level were looking for ways to encourage people to go to work, the idea was intended to discourage families from having children to boost their monthly benefit.

"I don't know about anyone else here who grew up in poverty, but as someone who grew up in public housing my mom certainly didn't get the business plan that said have more children, you'll get rich," Decker said March 5 at a hearing where her and DiDomenico's bills got the fast-track treatment.

Days later, the Senate slipped language repealing the family cap into a midyear spending bill, hoping the House would go along with using the budget bill as a vehicle to get the cap-on-kids lift to the governor's desk quickly. The House had other ideas, scheduling a vote late March 8 on a standalone bill March 13.

Baker won't say whether he'll veto the cap repeal without additional reforms, but as the Senate was voting to repeal the cap, Baker was urging consideration of his entire reform package, which would include a change to count Supplemental Security income toward eligibility for state benefits.

Baker said Supplemental Security income deserves to be treated the same as retirement and disability benefits for veterans, but the Legislature, dating back to the days of Deval Patrick in the Corner Office, have consistently rejected that argument.

While Democratic leaders strategize over how best to repeal the cap, they may find a more-willing partner in Baker on another early session priority -- banning gay conversion therapy for minors.

Baker said he was "inclined to support" the ban, which very nearly made it to his desk in the closing moments of the session last July 31 and could be on its way there real soon. The Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities held a hearing on conversion therapy bills filed by Rep. Kay Khan and a Sen. Mark Montigny that were immediately recommended after hours of testimony -- both pro and con.

That committee wasn't the only one that sprang to life last week, as the House and Senate Ways and Means Committee finally kicked off their annual hearings on Baker's $42.7 billion budget proposal.

Delayed a day by snow, the first hearing gave the administration the chance to explain its budget to the House and Senate budget writers, including new chairs Sen. Michael Rodrigues and Rep. Aaron Michlewitz.

Rodrigues and Michlewitz will now take the budget show on the road against a backdrop of tax collections that appear rosier than they did when Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan sat down in front of them March 5.

Revenues in February -- which is the smallest month of the year for tax collections -- took a bite of the shortfall that had started to cause some anxiety around the building. The $400 million gap shrunk to $292 million with four months left, which in the grand scheme of things can sometimes seem like a rounding error.

Budget officials, however, will still be holding their breath until April figures are announced.

University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan has a stake in the strength of the state's finances, noting in a speech to university, business and political leaders last week that state support for public higher education has declined 12.5 percent when adjusted for inflation since 2008.

And that comes on top of a "looming demographic crisis" that Meehan says will arrive like a tsunami in 2026 when the decline in recession-era birth rates will lead to fewer college-age students seeking admission to Bay State and New England schools.

To combat that financial pressure, Meehan announced in his "State of the University" address that UMass would be launching a new online college targeting adult learners to help them complete degrees and pursue careers in fields that match the workforce needs of Massachusetts employers.

Meehan didn't attach any cost or revenue estimates to the plan just yet, but he and trustee chairman Robert Manning cast the online education initiative as one necessary in a time of disruption in higher education.

Manning predicted that more small colleges would close, following in the paths of struggling schools like Mount Ida that couldn't make the math work. If UMass is smart, Manning said, it coud be there to help pick up the pieces.

Baker also put forward a proposal to help pick up the pieces, laying out in legislation a framework for the Department of Higher Education to assume additional oversight of financially struggling schools and ensure the students caught in the lurch if a college closes has help figuring out their next steps.